AIBU to not like inanimate objects being called 'she'?

[LylaLee]

I'm not on a campaign or anything, but this is just something that annoys me and I came to ask if IABU to find it jarring/grating.

I know that historically ships get called 'she' and that already annoyed me.

But now I'm seeing it everywhere. On YouTube someone gets a new belt: 'she's going to look great'.

On Instagram, someone's sewn a dress = 'she fits really well.'

Someone gets a wig: 'she looks really natural'.

It's almost as if 'female = an item to serve/be used/passively be of service'.

Oh, you say, they're just being playful and whimsical, anthropomorphising the object.

But they are never, ever, ever called 'he'. I've never heard it.

AIBU?

My first language is one where everything is male or female and there is no word for “it”. So it doesn’t bother me much.

Yes.

Of course it's part of French/German etc., but to use it in English is archaic and sexist. Boats aren't gendered. They are boats.

Why though (if you don’t mind me asking)? My former neighbour was similar - she referred to her house rabbit as “he”, even though she was female. It baffled me.

Dog misgendering annoys me! Drove me up the wall when people insisted on calling my dog he even though they knew quite well she was female! 🤣

My robot hoover is a male.
Hes called Eddie because he keeps getting stuck and then we can shout at him
"Eddie you utter bastard"
Love Bottom and the genius of Rik and Ade

She in fashion, makeup and wigs definitely comes from the underground ball scene then popularised by Ru Paul's Drag Race etc. I dont mind it too much. But I hate; a trouser, a shoe, a red lip.....you have TWO!!!

@Cattenberg Dogs in my family have always been ‘he’. My family would think there was something wrong with me if I started calling them anything else 😅

Never heard it for anything but types of transport.

@sixthvestibule, I find that difficult to get my head around. Are your family German speakers by any chance?

”How’s Rex doing? Has he had his puppies yet?”

”Yes, he gave birth last night. Four beautiful puppies. All doing well. He’s a great mum.”

”Four boys?”

”Duh! Of course!”

Yes, my hoover is male - Mr Scarlett, in fact.

The car is also male.

I thought this when my nephew was playing with a dinosaur and my sister called them he. Were none of them girls? Girl dinosaurs must exist!

It’s very common on YouTube. I think that it’s from drag and lgbt culture rather than being leftover from languages.

It’s always ‘yes queen’ ‘she’s a beaut’ ‘she is beautiful’ ‘she ate’ ‘Mother’ ‘she ate and left no crumbs’ etc. and gay people calling everyone ‘she’. ‘Slay mother’

I think that it’s problematic for several reasons. I can’t see a homophobic man calling a car ‘he’s a beaut’ so he has to call it a women’ and and gay people calling everyone ‘she’ feels more like appropriation of the gender than flattery.

Then assigning ‘she’ to everything great but very very fad like and temporarily cool, but also highly opinionated, makes a mockery of ‘she’ too. Some people might not like the item of think that the word is naff so it transfers to thinking the whole concept of ‘she’ is daft. It adds to sexism and misogyny.

‘She in fashion, makeup and wigs definitely comes from the underground ball scene then popularised by Ru Paul's Drag Race etc. I dont mind it too much. But I hate; a trouser, a shoe, a red lip.....you have TWO!!!’ From the poster above - I feel like the whole drag culture appropriate’s women and now it’s stealing our pronoun's too.

@LylaLee If it’s not a touching the skin, and just dripping, then at least it’s not unhygienic. But there are some where you can see a nozzle track where they’ve applied it directly to the cheek and that’s just ew.

TBH I don’t have the fine motor skills to guarantee that if I dropped things directly on my face I would actually get them where I wanted them, but I also think it’s easy to apply too much that way, so I’m happier to put things on my fingertips or a palette so that I don’t have to find a way to remove half of what I’ve applied.

Makes sense

I just remembered this thread because in a quick insomniac TikTok scroll, in a couple of minutes I heard a Kitchenaid and a fart both being described as "she".....

My car is definitely male, he's called Reggie and is a bugger for braking down. Actually I can't think of any female inanimate objects, which kind of annoys me the other way, as it feeds into the default=male.

My robot hoover is male, he's Nigel. Our car doesn't have a name or a personality, its just it.
One of the aeroplanes at school is a she, I named her Alice, but the rest are just its.

There is no rhyme or reason to it for me

Is it the russian fashionista you are talking about mainly?
I think quite a few others caught onto it as a "cool thing" seeing it on some ESL influencers.
In my language scarf, blouse, skirt, wig are she basically. Belt would be he. Trousers and shoes they and so on.

Car would depend on brand😂
Toyota - she
Ford - he
Fiat - he
Dacia - she

To be honest when that fashionista woman with the belts does it, it's not annoying, as it's part of her schtick. It's when people do it in all seriousness for lipstick, mascara, shoes etc.

i actually very rarely hear this other than for boats, and for some reason, yes it slightly iritates me though dont know why

For me it's the 'females are objects and objects are female' vibe.

Do male straight youtubers do it to?
I tbh doubt that. It's natural to do object innon gendered language into your own gender afaik. It's just fashion of naming your things because someone quirky and successful did it.
Boats were "she" for luck and protection.

I've seen gay (not trans) male YouTubers do it.

When I bought my purple mulberry bag the shop assistant called the bag she, I quite liked it

I have a vase with a face, he's a he